The NSN MWC Press Releases have been published. Two are clipped below and I found the Nokia HSPA+ Multiflow collaboration with Qualcomm which will be standardized by 3GPP in Release 11 particularly interesting. Links and summaries are provided for 5 others. The master list of recent NSN press releases is here ...

Operators will be able to offer enhanced mobile broadband with a new feature for HSPA+ networks from Nokia Siemens Networks and Qualcomm. Known as HSPA+ Multiflow, it allows devices located close to the edge of a mobile base station’s cell to connect with a second base station serving a neighboring cell. The ‘Multiflow’ name refers to the two different paths data can then take to reach a device. The feature makes far more efficient use of network resources, delivering up to double the data speed and up to 50% faster response compared to existing HSPA+ networks.

A live demonstration at Mobile World Congress 2012 of the feature will be based on Nokia Siemens Networks’ commercial Single RAN offering and Qualcomm’s prototype USB dongles.

“With 100 million smart devices being added every month, we see a consequent increase in ‘smart’ applications that make use of their advanced capabilities. Not only is network traffic rising dramatically, much of it is also unpredictable in nature, and this can impact user experience,” said Keith Sutton, head of the WCDMA business line for Nokia Siemens Networks. “This is where HSPA+ Multiflow helps operators – it reduces imbalances that typically occur in network resource usage, and increases HSPA+ speed and capacity.”

HSPA+ Multiflow enables simultaneous transmission of two data streams from base stations in two adjacent cells to a single user device instead of one data stream from one base station as is the case with HSPA+ today. Overall, this can up to double throughput (data speeds) for users at cell edge. Due to Nokia Siemens Networks’ highly scalable Single RAN equipment, operators can protect their earlier network investments, by evolving their existing HSPA networks to the new technology with a simple software upgrade.

“We are working with Nokia Siemens Networks to drive the evolution and deployment of technologies like HSPA+,” said Serge Willenegger, vice president of product management at Qualcomm. “This demonstration confirms that HSPA+ Multiflow will enable us to further enhance the HSPA+ mobile broadband user experience, and is thus a valuable contribution toward enhancing the HSPA+ value proposition and further expanding global mobile broadband coverage."

The HSPA+ Multiflow feature is expected to be 3GPP standardized by mid 2012, and will be available commercially from Nokia Siemens Networks by second half of 2013. ###

Nokia Siemens Networks has opened a flagship mobile broadband testing and development facility in the heart of Silicon Valley. The company’s newest Smart Lab allows US-based operators, smartphone and operating system (OS) vendors, and application developers to analyze application and device performance across ‘live’ mobile network environments, including LTE. The lab aims to find the ideal balance between the best user experience and the lowest impact on network performance.

The lab benefits from the company’s new Smart Lab Performance Advisor, a reporting dashboard that provides instant insights into app and device behavior. The Smart Lab Performance Advisor facilitates the evaluation process at Nokia Siemens Networks Smart Labs. Each application and device tested is ranked by comparing test results to a database of network performance indicators. Operators can use this ranking to get a thorough understanding of application and device impact, and achieve the most effective network configuration to minimize such impact.

All Nokia Siemens Networks Smart Labs are equipped with an end-to-end network where the dependencies between mobile broadband technologies, smartphones and tablets, applications and services like Voice over IP, mobile video or social media can be tested and evaluated. The company collaborates with all stakeholders in the mobile ecosystem at these labs, advising them on how to further optimize network and application performance.

“Smartphones with always-connected applications introduce a new type of network behavior, and increase volatility in mobile broadband demand,” said Jan Hellman, head of Smart Labs at Nokia Siemens Networks. “This can considerably increase signaling traffic and drastically reduce smartphone battery life, and thus impact user experience. Our Smart Labs provide the world’s leading mobile broadband testing facilities and collaboration with other industry players allowing us to better advise our customers on how to make their networks more smartphone friendly.”

“Our Smart Labs and Smart Labs Performance Advisor reflect our growing commitment to help operators get concrete insights on how to resolve these issues,” Hellman said.

The company’s new Smart Lab Performance Advisor will be demonstrated at Nokia Siemens Networks’ “Let’s talk” zone at MWC 2012. In addition to the new Silicon Valley site, the company has Smart Labs in Finland, South Korea and France, as well as a second lab in USA.¹

¹ Nokia Siemens Networks operates Smart Labs on three continents and in four countries – Dallas and Silicon Valley in USA; Espoo in Finland; Seoul in South Korea; and Paris in France

Nokia Siemens Networks has added a raft of new capabilities, many of which are industry-firsts, to its Liquid Net portfolio. By fluidly allocating mobile broadband where and when it’s needed, the company’s approach creates far more efficient networks that adapt to volatile demand. The company will be providing further details on its evolution of Liquid Net in the run up to Mobile World Congress 2012, in Barcelona, where the breakthroughs will be demonstrated in live networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks has invented a way to deliver mobile broadband across areas with a very high user density more efficiently than ever before. Multiple, locally managed access points are used to create a network of interconnected ‘small cells’ creating a ‘Flexi Zone’ of mobile broadband coverage with a single connection back to an operator’s network. Flexi Zones allow virtually unlimited scaling of capacity as each zone can have up to 100 access points and yet behave, from the network point of view, as a single base station. The company is launching its Flexi Zone approach at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona.

360 operators in 140 countries serving 3 billion GSM subscribers can now allocate their network resources more fluidly with Nokia Siemens Networks’ Liquid Radio GSM software suite. When used with the company’s Flexi Multiradio base stations, the software suite makes more efficient use of the spectrum allocated to GSM services, while improving network quality. This frees up valuable spectrum to either increase GSM capacity or to deliver 3G and 4G mobile broadband at higher data rates.

Nokia Siemens Networks is launching its new Flexi Compact Base Station, the industry’s smallest macro base station for 3-sector sites combining baseband, radio and integrated transport in a single enclosure*. The company believes it will allow operators to modernize GSM networks for improved energy efficiency while offering the lowest total cost of ownership. The company has also launched a 6-pipes radio module, the latest addition to its Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station family, which enables highly compact and high capacity multi-radio sites for LTE rollouts, and is ready for evolution to LTE-Advanced.

Nokia Siemens Networks is the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world’s most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly.

With headquarters in Espoo, Finland, we operate in over 150 countries and had revenues of over 14 billion euros in 2011. nokiasiemensnetworks.com ###